Category: 2023: Season 106

27 overnight. Into the woods by 6:00 AM again to tap. Put up 25 more taps. We have 225 taps out now.

At 10:30 AM we headed back into the woods to prepare for cooking. Setup the evaporator. Got the R/O into the syrup building. Connected all the hoses. We got a new heat gun this season but it failed at the end of last season. Pumped sap from the collecting tank to the storage tank because we needed the collection tank for a load of water. Washed out the permeate tank. Then got a water from the farmhouse. We need the water to rinse the membranes before use. We should be ready to cook tomorrow. Plan to get into the woods early.

Cold and cloudy most of the day, but cleared around 2:30 PM and warmed to mid-30s. Trees starting dripping. We’ll check tomorrow, but may need to collect.

A long day of prep. Back to the farmhouse by 5:30 PM.

Into the woods at 6:00 AM to tap. Sunrise was 6:25 AM. 50 more taps out by 7:45 AM. Before going back the farmhouse, we noticed there five buckets with missed covers from yesterday’s tapping. When we placed the covers, we noticed the buckets were full. Must have run all night. It was down to 30 overnight. Not a hard freeze. Sunny and up to 45. The trees were dripping. We moved sap around from full buckets.

At Noon we started getting ready to collect. Washed the storage tanks and collecting tank. Everything ready by 3:00 PM when help. The original plan was to continue tapping, but switched to collecting first. Collected 170 gallons at 2 Brix. 50 of the taps were from the morning tapping session and they were half full. It was a good run.

After collecting, we still had time to put up 50 more taps. But we did break a drill bit. Hit something in the tree and bit stopped turning. The bit snapped. It’s been five or more years since we broke a bit. And that was because the bit was of poor quality. Broke on the first tap we tried to make with it. Went to the farmhouse to get a spare bit.

Back to the farmhouse by 5:15 PM.

100 taps out by 5:00 PM. Tress are running. Missed some of the run. We plan for 250 taps this season.

A mild winter. Feb 17-20 was sunny and warm. Sap likely moving but we wanted to wait with tapping because of a snow storm. We got 12” of snow Feb 22-23. Biggest snow of the winter. Not much snow on the ground before the storm. Green Bay had open water. Rivers had thin ice and open water in places. This is climate change.

Scrambling to catch up with the weather now. Plan to get in the woods by 6:00 AM tomorrow to tap 50 more.

Welcome to season 106.